Be Aware of Opportunities and Treats

Start planning for tomorrow today!


My focus today is on step 2 of the strategic planning process; complete an environmental analysis. An environmental analysis, also called a SWOT analysis, is important to small business owners, because they generally have fewer resources, and cannot afford to make as many mistakes as larger businesses can.


A SWOT will pinpoint your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It indentifies environmental factors that could affect any sector of your business. It is necessary to consider both internal and external factors when conducting an environmental analysis for your business.

To conduct an external analysis you must search for threats and opportunities in economic, legal, social cultural, technological, and competitive environments related to your business. This means that you are looking for any data or trends that may suggest a possible threat to your business goals. At the same time you should scan for opportunities to enhance your products or services. It will also help you identify external factors beyond your control such as, interest rates, gas prices, and other economic changes that may affect your business. A solid external analysis gives small business owners more flexibility and enables them to quickly recognize good opportunities.

An internal analysis is an assessment of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. You identify what your company does best and what it needs to do better. It allows you to match your company’s strengths to possible opportunities, and provides insight as to which threats you are most vulnerable to. A complete internal analysis is the key to matching possible opportunities to resources currently being sought (Hatten 76).

I have chosen not to share my environmental analysis with the public. However, here is a list of some of the resources that I found helpful while doing my own research.

I found a template for a SWOT analysis at http://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm,

After that I checked with my local Chamber of Commerce for information on other related businesses in the area.

Next, I searched the U.S. government’s business website http://www.business.gov/, which has information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, the Department of Commerce and others.

I also found a useful article about marketing analysis at entrprenuer.com http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/businessplancoachtimberry/article78002.html.

Information for an internal analysis comes from you. It is all of the information that you can gather from careful analysis of your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. After you have gathered all the info that you can, you then use it to take advantage of opportunities and to avoid threats.





Works Cited

Hatten, Timothy. “Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond.” New York: Boston, 2009. 74-77.

Berry, Tim. “Conducting a Market Analysis for your Business Plan.” Entreprnuer.com June 2005.